“The haze over Singapore worsened last night after a comparatively sunny day. By 9pm, practically every part of Singapore was fog bound. Even in brightly-lit streets like Orchard Road and Nicoll Highway, motorists had to drive with full headlights on…

“The meteorological station at Paya Lebar airport reported that visibility was good in the afternoon but deteriorated to poor at about 10pm. Flight movements, however, were normal. A pilot who brought in an aircraft at 11pm reported: ‘There is haze at 3,000 ft, but visibility is still good.’”

Wednesday, 24 August 2016

This is a follow-up to a blog post I wrote a year ago, re-ranking the top 25 blogs listed by Alvinology.

But that list was puzzling in terms of what Alvinology counted and didn't count as "blogs".

So this time I decided to expand it considerably to include what I think are noteworthy local blogs and websites, which admittedly may also be somewhat arbitrary. But hey, Alvinology started it first.

As before, the data is from Similar Web.

This list is by no means comprehensive or definitive. If there is any blog or website you think should be included but isn't here, let me know.

I decided the cut-off would be 30k visits. If a website had fewer than 30k visits last month, it won't be listed here. Sorry, Eunice Annabel (29.6K). That also leaves out my own blog, which had only 8.20K.

(Blogs with the blogspot subdomain name, like Xiaxue's, are listed twice because Similar Web counts the subdomains blogspot.com and blogspot.sg separately.)

Sunday, 21 August 2016

When it was announced last week that a victory parade for Singapore’s first Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling would be held, some were quick to criticise the move as insensitive to Singaporeans who were still competing in Rio.

As someone commented online:

“Why don’t they wait for all the Singaporean Olympic athletes to return then do it together? They did not put in any less effort to compete for Singapore.

“Oops, I forgot we are a society that focuses on meritocracy. No medal or glory, no talk.”

But did many care? Not the thousands who thronged the parade route and pit stops such that crowd control became a problem.

A parent at the Marine Terrace market pit stop recounted:

“My kids and I were there and we left angrily. There were many kids standing at the front and the adults were the ones pushing everyone.

“Luckily, I held on to my kids. If not, you would see many kids and people being stepped over!”

And you thought the Pokemon Go crowds were crazy.

Even Schooling couldn’t manage more than a mouthful of his beloved fried carrot cake because of the mob.

So much left over! It would have been a waste to just throw the food away. Did anyone eat it and maybe have a taste of his DNA?

As for the parade itself, which had Schooling on an open-top double-decker bus, it caused two road accidents and Schooling confessed to being responsible for one of them.

The 21-year-old swimmer told Mothership.sg:

“So I was eating a pear in the bus downstairs. I was trying to make funny faces at this lady with her two kids through the glass and they’re freaking out. They’re like ‘oh my god!’

“So this lady tries to get her kids to wave at me and she has her steering wheel turned towards the bus. So when the bus starts moving, she gasses it and her car goes straight into our bus and rams — T-bones our bus.

“And I was like ‘oh my god!’ That just happened. I just caused an accident.”

(For those unfamiliar with the University of Texas student’s Americanisms, “gassing it” means stepping on the accelerator and “T-bone” in this case doesn’t mean the steak but a vehicle colliding with another at a right angle.)

Someone even questioned the wisdom of putting Schooling on top of an open-top bus in the first place:

“The weather is so hot lately. Are you guys trying to ‘barbecue’ him?”

Well, he does look pretty tasty.

And on top of all that, some were unhappy that the parade was on a Thursday:

“So kiasu… want public to support but conduct it on week day. Why no authority to ask companies to give half-day leave to line the street to support a historical event. Really shameful!”

And this is why we can’t have nice things like a victory parade.

When on Monday, Parliament “moved a motion” to congratulate Schooling, it also had the chance to move a motion to declare Thursday (or any other day) a public holiday to honour him even more.

But it passed the Administration of Justice (Protection) Bill instead.

Safe to say, more people would have preferred a Let’s Have A National Holiday Because We Just Won Our First Olympic Gold Medal Bill.

Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin probably spoiled the market by suggesting a National Schooling Day where “everyone will have to go to school” because he couldn’t resist the pun.

And this is why we can’t have nice things like an extra public holiday.

We can only envy Fiji, which did declare a public holiday after winning its first Olympic medal by beating Great Britain in the rugby sevens final to get the gold.

That is, if we can find Fiji on the map.

But even though we didn’t get a holiday, McDonald’s offered six free chicken McNuggets to the first 50 customers at all its outlets (excluding iFly, Resorts World Sentosa, Lido, Gardens by The Bay and institutional stores) on Monday from 11am.

Why free McNuggets, you ask, and not, say, a free Fillet-O-Fish? Since, you know, Schooling swims like a fish.

According to McDonald’s, it was “to celebrate our hero and golden boy Joseph Schooling, on winning his own golden nugget at Rio”.

So now you know why athletes bite their medals when they pose for photographs.

Ummm… because the medals resemble chicken nuggets?

They should start giving out curry sauce with those McMedals.

Trouble is, McDonald’s and other companies promoting themselves while congratulating Schooling are not allowed to do this.

The Singapore National Olympic Council told The New Paper:

“While we celebrate Joseph’s victory, we must also stand guided by the rules and guidelines protecting the assets and marks of the Games.

“Henceforth, we would like to advise commercial entities to comply with these rules and not infringe or exploit the assets for commercial purposes.”

Construction work on the new State Courts complex will commence in June, following the groundbreaking ceremony that was held on Wednesday.

The new complex, consisting of two interconnected towers, will rise behind the existing octagonal-shaped courts building at the corner of Upper Cross Street and Havelock Road.

It will expand the physical infrastructure of the State Courts without interrupting its day-to-day functioning, unlike an overhaul of the current building, said judicial commissioner See Kee Oon, who is the presiding judge of the State Courts.

He also noted that the State Courts was handling a growing caseload, which means the need for more court rooms.

The number of court rooms available for both civil and criminal cases will increase from 40 now to more than 60 when the new complex opens in 2019, while the number of hearing chambers will nearly double from 28 now to more than 50. In sum, the new complex will be three times larger than the current courts.

Of the open frame design of the new complex, which will have no external enclosed facade, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who officiated the ceremony, said: "This design intent aims to translate the vision of the State Courts, which is to inspire public trust and confidence through an effective and accessible justice system, into a physical representation.

"Standing as a modern contrast to the 'octagon', the new tower complex... is a powerful metaphor for the openness, transparency and impartiality of the judicial process."

How the current courthouse will be used from 2019 is currently under discussion, said a State Courts spokesman. It had been previously slated to house the civil, family and juvenile courts. The current courthouse, which has been in use for nearly 40 years, has already been marked for conservation.

Sunday, 14 August 2016

Speed
That’s what you need
To beat the rest
And be the best
To get the gold
Before you get too old
And speed is what I lack
That’s why I’m always behind the pack
I wanted to buy the 4D number 5039
But it was sold out
Now all I can do is pout

Fifty point three nine
Was the history-making time
Joseph Schooling clocked in the 100m butterfly
Leaving the runners-up in a three-way tie
Even Michael Phelps who has the most gold
Couldn’t beat the 21-year-old

Just as Phelps wasn’t fast enough in the pool
I wasn’t speedy enough to get to Singapore Pools
Before it was too late
Condemning me to my fateYou know why I was so slow?
Because I was playing Pokemon Go
Why did I stop for the stupid Zubat?
I already have too many of that
The need to catch them all
Led to my downfall
And that’s why the game is evil
And should be made illegal

The gold medal Schooling won
Was better than finding a rare Pokemon

Oh, how the Lion City roared
Watching him top the leaderboard
We would’ve been aghast
If it were a delayed telecast

Even President Tony Tan was there in Rio
I hope he doesn’t get bitten by a mosquito
At least the pool wasn’t green
If I dive in, will I get gangrene?

I wiped the tears from my eyes
When I saw the Singapore flag rise
And heard our National Anthem
As Schooling stood on the podium
Majulah Singapura
It can still move us from afar
Does he remember the words?
If he doesn’t, it would be awkward

Detractors say Schooling is ang mohHis father says no
His son is Eurasian
100 per cent Singaporean
But his mother is Malaysian
Doesn’t that make him 50 per cent Malaysian?

For all Schooling has done, an online poll queries:
Should he be exempted from national service?
My answer is negative
NS should not be treated as punitive
To waive as reward for those you think deserving
Is a slap to those who have served and are serving

But do I think a public holiday should be declared?
Yes, that would really make me glad
Any weekday would be okay
Even though we just had National Day
If Fiji can do it, why not us, I say
Anything to get out of work and hit the hay
Is that too much to ask for?
We have never won gold in the Olympics before

For his 50.39-second feat
Schooling is in for a treat
He will get a million bucks
Meanwhile my life still sucks
I can’t even buy 4D
How hopeless can I be?
One thing I wish I knew
Does he play Pokemon Go too?

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

The Today article references Dr Gwee Li Sui as expected. I predicted in May that "any discussion about the Government’s policy on Singlish will henceforth have to namecheck Dr Gwee Li Sui". The Time article doesn't mention Dr Gwee by name - but dredges up Phua Chu Kang.